EUROPE >German intelligence destroys neo-Nazi murder documents

Neo-Nazis march through the city of Dresden, Germany. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency destroyed files relating to the case in Nov 2011, after the activities of far-right group the National Socialist Underground’s became public, Der Spiegel stated on its website. EPA photo

An official with Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has reportedly shredded files relating to a neo-Nazi cell, after it became clear that they were responsible for a series of murders, including those of eight Turks. The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, destroyed files relating to the case in Nov. 2011 after the far-right group called the National Socialist Underground’s (NSU) activities became public, German magazine Der Spiegel stated on its website yesterday.

Members of the German Parliament’s investigative committee into the NSU told the media earlier last week that the intelligence agency had destroyed files on an operation to recruit far-right informants on Nov. 12, 2011. The previous day, it had been revealed that the NSU were apparently responsible for the murders of nine small-business owners of Turkish and Greek origin. The series of murders had been one of Germany’s biggest unsolved crimes. There has been persistent speculation that the domestic intelligence service may have used members of the NSU as informants.